A judgment is not an essay — it has working parts, and lawyers read it the way mechanics read an engine. Here is the anatomy, taught on the most famous case in the common law: the snail in the ginger beer.
First, the name — click each part
First party. The party bringing this stage of the case — here May Donoghue, the appellant (in Scots procedure, the pursuer). In criminal cases this slot is usually the state: R (for Rex or Regina) in the Commonwealth.